Category: field trips

Last week was a travel week for work, but I still managed to accomplish some things.

I finished my PJ pants.

I started a dress. You can tell I was in an Eastery mood. I’ve had this material for ages – a gift from my friend Laurel – and today I decided I need a spring dress. (I’ll probably wear it over jeans though.)

I pulled this little dude out of storage and fluffed him. He’s still in pretty good shape!

I went to Craftin’ Outlaws and had a lovely time. I saw someone selling her hand block printed textiles and it got me thinking about fair trade textiles from India that are block printed by hand, like my pillowcase, and how the desire to make beautiful things by hand spans all cultures.

I also bought these earrings.

I drank wine and talked with old friends and shared my plans to start a podcast, which will hopefully bear some fruit soon.

My oldest especially wanted to see it. It was a beautiful spot, and while there have been some questions about its authenticity, I do believe it is possible that Vikings could have come to this location via the route suggested. I wish they would excavate the cave site because I think it could be enlightening. Regardless, we had a lot of fun!

We stayed over at a bed and breakfast in Mount Vernon, Missouri. On the way through St Louis we stopped at a wonderful fair trade store – Zee Bee Market – and the store manager got a great pic of us!

I’ve had plenty of time to knit as the boys have shared driving duty with me, but this is all I’ve managed.

And that was the best pic I could manage of the knitting on my lap in the car. Still, it won’t be long until I’m on sleeve island!

I stopped by Yarnatopia and was overjoyed by their selection of yarns! Moon Drake is a local dyer and the merino and mulberry silk sock yarn at top left is also hers. She was dropping off a fresh batch of hand dyed when I was there, and “driftwood” which is the sky blue with bits of browns called to me.

I am trying the Malabrigo DK for the Bramen Cowl, and the midnight Moonshine is my all time favorite color: so navy it’s black!

I picked up a few more Lykke Driftwood circular needles. I haven’t bought needles in years and I really prefer wood. I will be able to pass on my metal Addi Turbos now, which I don’t enjoy using.

One of my planned destinations on my trip to Oklahoma was SWAK Knits in Guthrie. I had visited many years ago, and I was really glad to find they are still there. The shop is bursting full of all kinds of goodies, including a bath tub full of yarn!

I picked up some new driftwood needles and colorful yarn, which the shop owner, Keely, caked for me.

I love marigold. It’s one of my favorite colors, but I never wear it since it doesn’t look very good on me. I couldn’t help myself with this yarn, though. I have two skeins and I’m thinking of making mittens, since I can look at that gorgeous color on my hands!

I’m not sure what the Mrs. Crosby’s is destined to be.

The boys found some treasures of their own at one of the antique stores.

Hi from the road! I’m knitting in the back seat and wanted to share the beautiful texture of this yarn. This is the Midnight Merino Raglan I haven’t worked on in a while, but this is great car knitting. I’m glad the stitches are plain so they can show off the texture.

I made it to the knotwork on Celtic Myths, but that’s too fussy for the car.

Today started off wonderfully with an early trip to the sledding hill in hopes of being the first ones there- and we were!

Although my GERD was flaring up, I took some medication and hoped for the best. I wasn’t going to let it spoil my fun. And we did have a grand old time, howling with laughter and screaming down the hill as fast as we could make our little plastic toboggan go.

It was over in an hour, as my stomach and constitution couldn’t handle any more thrills. I had hoped for a good day of sledding, an aromatherapy event for Haven Herbs, and then some time in my studio.

Most of my days are good days. It’s rare now when I have to adjourn from life to the couch or my bed to wait while the worst passes.

I don’t know if it was something I ate or the accumulation of stress over the week, or most likely a combination of things, but I’ve had to accept that studio time isn’t going to happen today. And luckily I wasn’t needed at the aromatherapy event.

I wanted to work on my Ohio Star cowl, and I did spend some time with an app while I lay on the couch.

The gauge here is spot on for my Better Breakfast DK. The chart isn’t perfectly symmetrical as the top half is shorter than the bottom. That can be fixed.

The Ohio Star is a quilt block pattern, and I remember my Grandmother showing it to me when I was young. Because I now live in Ohio and the yarn is from Ohio, I started exploring this design for my cowl. I wanted something intrinsically American, and after perusing different First Nations and early American motifs, I decided this was a natural fit.

Invisible illnesses are not only difficult because of the illnesses themselves, but also because it’s so easy to get into the “just shake it off” mindset, which doesn’t work and is psychologically unhelpful. Today I kept thinking I was going to feel better, and as the day wore on, I grew worse and worse.

I do a lot. I have many passions and I’m not the kind of person who can ignore the desires that drive me. But in order to do all the things I want to do, I have to know when to slow down, take care of myself, listen to my body, and let it all go… not forever, but for later.

So I’m back in bed with a cup of herbal tisane. Even knitting feels like too much. I may try a book.

As you can see, I didn’t have any trouble getting into my journal today. I transferred over my goals from my decomposition notebook into a list format with the help of a new stencil. After using said stencil, I’m not quite sure I needed it, but as I now have it, I’ll probably carry on using it.

I finished my Carbeth today. This is pre-blocking. Even so, in full knowledge that this does not have the required ease, I still love it and it is perfect over my favorite flannel shirt. I also chose to skip the rolled neckline, because jowls, and instead matched the ribbing on the hem.

Wow, I never thought it would be so difficult to get one photo of myself I felt was decent enough to post on my blog.

I have a full skein of yarn leftover! Super exciting, because I love this gorgeous red Targhee!

For my next cast on, I’ve decided to start Celtic Myths. I wound my skein of Cheryl Oberle’s Dancing Colours today, and as you can see, the colors are sultry! I am casting on with hopes of wearing it to the Celtic Colours Festival in Nova Scotia in October. Bob and I have a goal to get there and spend some time with his parents.

Bob and I went hiking on Sunday. I say hiking, but it was really wandering around lost in the mud. It was still a beautiful day, as you can see.

I really love the community here on WordPress, and I’m so grateful to have made so many new blogging friends in 2018. Thank you for reading my blog!

Today marks the first day of the holiday for me, even though I still have work to finish up. It should be complete by sundown.

I was up at 0:dark:30 this morning baking Icelandic Piparkökur for Hans’ class today. They are his “go to” cookie. He made the dough yesterday, but it was too soft and sticky to work last night. So I got up early to bake them. I was awake anyway, so it’s not like I’m a martyr.

Bob and I went for a hike last Sunday and I forgot to post pics. We went to one of our metro parks, Highbanks. It’s one of our favorite places. I especially love to visit the pioneer headstones.

I have no new knitting to share. It’s been a busy (but fun!) work week with lots of travel.